A week today, one of France's most talented and thoughtful winemakers, Olivier Humbrecht MW of Alsace, will be hosting a dinner at The Ledbury, haunt of food-loving winos in London W11 where triple Michelin-starred chef Brett Graham will be serving dishes specially chosen to complement a host of Olivier's most acclaimed wines.
Olivier was one of the most inspiring speakers at the recent Master of Wine Symposium in Bordeaux (where this picture of him was taken) and the line up of wines is truly mouthwatering. This dinner is the third Riesling dinner organized by Gareth Birchley of Bordeaux Index, the other two having been hosted by Erni Loosen and Egon Müller who said, according to this report on the dinner about Brett's pairings, 'I travel the world showing my wines with great food, but I have never experienced food and wine matching like this'.
They have wisely decided to show a wider range of wines than just Rieslings at this dinner. Here is Bordeaux Index's spiel: 'Olivier was not only the first Frenchman to become a Master of Wine in 1988 but was voted into Decanter's Top 10 white winemakers in the world. Since 1998 the domaine has been 100% biodynamic and crafts their wines in a very particular style. Perhaps the counter opposite of their friends in the Mosel, these Rieslings are monsters in youth yet still age phenomenally well. We are delighted to have access to all of these gems direct from the family cellar – "train spotters" amongst you will notice many high scoring Parker wines and two perfect 100 pointers. Olivier will be on hand to talk us through this incredibly rare selection and as usual, these will be matched to a first class menu designed by Brett Graham. Unfortunately one small change to previous dinners is that we now have to charge VAT to the ticket price, however we will continue with the ethos of the series and make all events as affordable as possible.'
The following amazing wines will be served:
Riesling, Brand 2001, 1997, 1990, 1983 Vendange Tardive
Riesling, Rangen de Thann 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991
Gewurztraminer, Hengst 2007, 1991, 1971
Pinot Gris, Clos Windsbuhl Vendange Tardive 1994, 1990, 1989
Pinot Gris, Clos Jebsal Sélection de Grains Nobles 1994, 1994 'Trie Special', 1996, 1991
Where: The Ledbury, 127 Ledbury Road, Notting Hill, London W11 2AQ
When: 7pm. Thursday 15 Jul 2010
Dress: Smart casual
How: gareth.birchley@bordeauxindex.com
How much: £199 + VAT per ticket – although see Members' forum for details of a special discount of 10% for Purple pagers.
Zind-Humbrecht treasures at The Ledbury
